Monthly Archives: November 2013

Z made me a monthly dinner, as he officially vowed to at our wedding. He made mouth-watering vegetarian lasagna and then we went to see Free Birds. I have not mentioned it here, but when we got back from our mini-moon, Z decided he would see a film in the theatre every day until Thanksgiving; a total of 35 days. He’s kept up with this goal, so it was nice to have a whole night together, rather than just half of one.

Remade two of the current four veggie vampire tea towels in preparation for Show of Hands @ Ravenswood Event Center. The show was the best curated fair I have been to yet. Emily Orange Beautiful pulled together a great venue with great energy and swell customers! I had some of the best booth neighbors yet; Beth (Four Eyes Handmade) to my left, Hanah & Nellie (SoapHappy!) to my right, and Jessie (CroquisKnits) directly behind me. I bought a number of gifts for family and friends, but my fave purchase was a necklace for me from Veronica Riley Martens, whose work is made with beads made from tagua nuts. My fave card maker a.favorite was there and she rarely does shows open to the public anymore, so that was neat and she has the coolest metal card display I have ever seen. Drool.

Speaking of shows…I am in a boat load of them this winter. Come say hi! I will not be attending my beloved Pittsburgh’s Handmade Arcade. Buddy Miss Alison’s wondrous boyfriend Ian will be working my booth. He is vegan and loves snacks, just FYI.

Last Days Here *
Free Birds
Celeste and Jesse Forever
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Lords of Salem
The Temptation of St. Tony ** [ Estonia ]

* documentary
** foreign language

Katniss Everdeen…say no more! What an amazing movie. I loved the first one, but this film was heart-stopping, lush, and so sharp. Last Days Here was like watching a train crashing and then reversing and then having a semi crash into it and push it off a bridge. I had never heard of Pentagram, but man, their manager Sean Pelletier is the glue that binds Bobby and his bandmates together. A really crushing look at a drug addict fighting his addiction to pull his band together for a reunion tour. While watching documentaries, I often do Wiki searches to get updates and this story goes on after the film ends and continues to go on today. Highly recommend even if you don’t like metal. Celeste & Jesse Forever was the first thing I’ve seen Andy Samberg in where I didn’t want to throw the remote at my tv. Breakups are hard, especially when you remain best friends with that S.O.

Wee Twee Rant: I am sick of movies saying “eating his/her feelings” or “eats his/her feelings” or putting the word eat and feelings in the same sentence. Just don’t do it. I watched two movies on Tuesday night and this phrase was in both freaking movies; Free Birds and Celeste and Jesse Forever. Truly un-funny. Putting it in a kid’s movie (even if it’s one that barely anyone will see because it is about the turkey Holocaust) is just inviting kids who watch it to think: “this is a funny thing I can say about someone who is fat”. Hollywood Fail, y’all.

Let’s do some more wedding talk! For our hedgehog & music-themed wedding, we tried to tie in music in little ways where we could. For our drink menu, we cut the menu into a square shape and used double-sided tape to affix it to a 10″ record sleeve. Then we put it into clear sleeve and put in on a stand. We had beer, wine, cider and two signature cocktails for the wedding. Mine was the Cuba Leigh-bre and Z’s was The Old Curmudgeon. The Cuba Leigh-bre was a Cuba Libre and Z’s was something Adam from Takito gave us the idea for. The Old Curmudgeon was Jeppson’s Malört, grapefruit soda, and orange bitters. Funny enough, I did not drink any of my signature cocktail because Z’s was so tasty!

Takito Tuesday with Stacy. Made veggie and tofu tempura. Saturday was all about errands. Dropped off promo items @ Orange Beautiful for Show of Hands. Dropped off stock at Local Goods. Was recommended an Indian restaurant called Tava in Melrose Park and it had such unique and amazing vegetarian buffet items. Dropped off items and checked out The Free Store – highly recommend everyone support this next time it pops up. Within 30 minutes of my stuff being put out, nearly all of it was gone, and seemingly to people who needed/would put it to use. Kiku/Megan Lee Designs Open Studio. Birthday brunch for Dave @ Delish. Did a mega clean-up after our landlord had our front window replaced and cleaned up our mantel (below). Made a new RWT card especially for Pittsburgh’s Handmade Arcade!

L&Z puppets, hiding, were made by Katie Rose Crafts! Because Z proposed with a puppet and we knew Puppet Bike was going to be our special wedding guest, we knew we would get puppets made of ourselves. My buddy Nate’s professional photos should be coming soon and I cannot wait to show those off!

Fave movie this week was Turn Me On, Dammit!. Z had seen this before and knew that I would like it and he was correct. Very refreshing to see a teen sex comedy where it is a horny girl instead of just some horny dude. Silly and serious at times, a very worthwhile watch. It was surprising how much I enjoyed Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Really sweet and it made me cry.

Speaking of crying: David Bowie, Lady Hedgehog crossed the Rainbow Bridge and her person, Aimee, was an amazing hedgemom to her. A few things have been happening in my world that are out of my control and reading this news Saturday night sent me into a long crying fit. You are so missed, DB, LH. Hopefully you got to meet Hoggle and Hermione and you are chomping up all the mealworms you can fit into your mouth. Being agnostic, a heaven for people seems strange to me; that scene from This is the End is kind of how I used to picture it, but an animal sanctuary in the sky where all of our beloved family pets to hang out together doesn’t seem odd in the slightest.

Took Tilda to a new vet, Wicker Park Vet – a vet who loves animals; what a concept! Dropped veggie vampire tea towels @ Plenty. FINALLY stopped at Modern Cooperative. It is THE best curated vintage furniture and home goods store I have yet to visit. Then I attended Chicago’s Cooking Up Change event with Z and Ashley – this event is really a game changer for kids with a lack of opportunities in their neighborhoods and schools – pairing high school culinary students with important area chefs to create a school lunch menu. I love that the founder of the company I work for is so passionate about it, which in turn makes us passionate about it. Friday, Z and I ran a million errands in a row and gave Katniss a bath. Enjoyed sleeping in and naps for the first weekend I can remember in months. No spin and I’ll get back into it, but for now am enjoying a little time off. Went to Nick & Erin’s lovely wedding and so happy to say it was our last wedding to attend this year. 8 down, including our own, and 0 to go. Went to Kris’ karaoke bday party! Went out with Stacy and a whole bunch of her awesome lady friends for bday drinks @ Three Dots and a Dash, which (sadly) met my low expectations.

Films watched 44th week of the year:

Gravity (3D/RPX)
Maniac Cop
The Ambassador *
Gasolina ** [ Guatemala]

* documentary
** foreign language

Gravity was pretty to look at and extremely intense, but there really did not need to be any backstory whatsoever. Would have been just as beautiful to watch unfold and maybe a little more pleasurable. I loved The Ambassador. After reading a handful of reviews, it seemed to receive a lot of flak, but I think what Mads Brügger did was commendable. The afterward at the end of the film showed a number of people he interviewed had mysteriously died. Quite literally, he could have died for his art/undercover film-making. Yet another reason not to buy diamonds! The “gem” in my wedding band made by Chocolate and Steel is a lab-grown pink tourmaline.

.My perfect wedding band!

Now that’s it’s been nearly a month, maybe I will start posting about all the details of what made our wedding spectacular!

Don Jon
Save the Date
Child’s Play
A Band Called Death *
The Visitor
Himalaya ** [ Nepal ]
Deju Vu

* documentary
** foreign language

Save the Date was my film of the week. It was so adorable and wacky, just like I like my indie comedies. Don Jon blew my expectations out of the water. Was not a fan of the ending, but really enjoyed the lead-up. A few friends had been raving about A Band Called Death and I had never heard of them. Glad I watched this doc. Himalaya was beautiful and surprisingly silly, kind of like Grumpy Old Men meets Lord of the Rings, in that there was a whole lot of walking.